Wearers of absorbent sanitary articles in the form of a diaper or an incontinence pad are often not in a state in which they may themselves change the article, or even in a state in which they realize that such an article needs changing. They are therefore dependant on caregivers in order to detect that a fecal or urinal incident has occurred and that there is a need to change their sanitary article. This is the case both for babies wearing diapers and also for adults in care homes or hospitals that are incapable of managing their own personal hygiene and changing their own diaper or incontinence pad, due to incompetence, dementia or physical handicaps. Hence, a reliable method of detecting fecal and/or urinal insults is of great need and importance.
A system for reliable detection of urine and/or feces would simplify the task of knowing when to change a diaper or an incontinence pad for a caregiver.
A system for detecting the occurrence of fecal and/or urine incontinence could similarly be used in other situations, for example in a facility such as a public washroom, in order to detect whether there is a need for cleaning said facility.
It is known that feces are often associated with pungent odors. The odors are due to a complex mixture of compounds produced by bacterial action which results in odorous gases which are emitted. Gases with strong odor which are emitted from feces include gases such as indole, skatole and mercaptans as well as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. In particular, heavy organic compounds such as mercaptans (methyl sulfides) and hydrogen sulfide may spread widely as well as linger in a room after a fecal incident has occurred. Hydrogen gas is also associated with feces, but hydrogen gas is volatile and hence does not travel far or linger as long as the heavier gases.
Urine is associated with the odor of ammonia gas, which is due to urea breakdown.
It is previously known that gases which are associated with feces and urine may be detected in order to detect the occurrence of a fecal and/or urine insult. The patent application WO 2012/126507 A1 discloses a system for monitoring fecal incontinence by the use of a hydrogen gas sensor which is removably attached to a sanitary article such as a diaper. The system also includes a signaling device adapted to emit a signal when the level of hydrogen gas detected by the sensor is above a threshold value.
Furthermore, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,222 discloses a body waste detector that includes a gas sensor which is adapted to detect the presence of at least one gas associated with urine and at least one gas associated with feces over a predetermined time interval. Thereafter, the detector indicates the presence of urine and/or feces.
With reference to prior art technology, there is a need for improved systems and methods for detecting the presence of urine and/or feces. In particular, there is a need for improved systems and methods by means of which it is possible to distinguish between urinal and fecal incontinence with a high level of accuracy and which are easy to use.